


Fear

by xblightning



Series: Adam du Mortain x Frankie Fairbanks [5]
Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Neck Kissing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, post book 2, references to emily skaja’s poetry, short fic, these bitches angsty !!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29720400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xblightning/pseuds/xblightning
Summary: Frankie struggles to bury her feelings in the aftermath of the Murphy attack.A short predecessor toBloodlust.
Relationships: Detective/Adam du Mortain, Female Detective/Adam du Mortain
Series: Adam du Mortain x Frankie Fairbanks [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157789
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Fear

**Author's Note:**

> i imagine this scene takes place very soon after book 2, whereas bloodlust was written to take place a bit further into the future. if you haven’t read it, i recommend doing so after this one!

She could feel it.

Frankie pressed the pad of her thumb to the scar on her neck and tilted her chin up to get a better look at it in the mirror, ignoring the way her pulse beat rapidly in the soft hollow of her throat. It was so faint that she could barely see it, even under the cold white light of the bathroom, but she knew it was there. It was always there with her, in everything she did. Every time she turned her head, she could feel the tightness of the skin there, the wrongness of it.

With a sharp exhale, Frankie turned the spigots, and after a few creaking groans, water poured from the sink in front of her. She dunked her hands in the icy water then splashed it over her face, letting it drip down her neck. It distracted her for a moment, but then the fear returned like it always did.

Damn it. When was she going to stop feeling like prey? Frankie thought that learning more about the supernatural would give her some agency over these feelings—but with every new type of supernatural that Nate told her about and every new and unholy power he described, the only thing she was able to take away from the lesson was that maybe some creatures were made to be carrion birds and some were made to be circled.

All she had to do was look in the mirror to know which ones humans were. Which one  _ she _ was.

The door behind her opened with a loud creak, and Frankie’s gaze snapped to meet the intruder’s in the mirror.

Adam stood in the doorway, his arms crossed casually over his chest. Of course it was him. He was the only one who wouldn’t bother knocking, except maybe Felix.

“I could have been in the middle of something,” Frankie said curtly.

She had meant to cut him with her voice, but he didn’t flinch, the expression on his face was irritatingly neutral for someone who had just barged into an occupied bathroom. “Nate said you left the library rather abruptly, and that you have been in here for a while. I wanted to check on you.” His head tilted slightly as he studied her. Frankie shifted, uncomfortable under his scrutiny, but instead of asking her why she had left or why she was soaking wet, he simply said, “I did not know you had decided to pursue studying with him.”

Frankie said nothing. This was not a conversation she wanted to have, especially not with him.

At her silence, his green eyes narrowed. “If you were discontent with our combat training—“

“It’s not about that,” she snapped, one hand moving to clutch her neck reflexively, covering it the same way an animal instinctively covered their weak spots when cornered. “None of this is about that.”

Adam followed the movement with his eyes, and Frankie cursed herself as his frown deepened. 

"Francine…" There was a pause there, as if Adam was using her name as a placeholder for something he didn’t know how to say.

She tore her eyes from him, pulling her hand away from her neck to flatten them both on the counter in front of her. She stared down at the faucet, shame and humiliation roiling through her. She hated being like this. She wished she was someone who was excited about their world, or at the very least accepting of it. Maybe even someone who could thrive in it. She hated that she was afraid, hated even more that all it took was one bite to break her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Adam draw closer in the mirror. He paused behind her, close enough that she could feel the heat of him along her back. The drip of the faucet was loud between them as his eyes traveled over the damp curve of her neck, to the rapid pulse fluttering in her throat. He could probably hear her heart beating, too.

“Francine,” he said again, this time lower. More serious.

She parted her lips, but there wasn’t a chance to speak because he lowered his head. Frankie drew in a sharp breath as his lips hovered just above the warm juncture between her shoulder and the column of her neck.

“I will never hurt you,” he said quietly, desperately. "Tell me you know that."

She closed her eyes. “I know,” she said, and to her surprise, it didn’t feel like a lie.

It had started out as one, honestly. She knew that he needed to hear it, that maybe she did, too. The moment the words left her, though, she knew they were true. He would never hurt her, not like that.

For a long moment, there was nothing but stillness in the heavy air around them. Then, the barest movement forward, and his lips brushed her skin—warm, smooth, beaded with moisture.

He kissed her neck like a man who had not kissed someone in a very long time. He kissed her like his mouth was not meant for it—and it wasn’t, she thought distantly. But when his teeth grazed her pulse, he did not bite down. He could tear open her throat at any moment, but instead he chose to kiss.

She whispered his name, and like a spell, the moment broke. Her eyes opened as he pulled back from her body, leaving her bereft and aching. Her heart was still hammering when he turned away, his lips grazing her temple as he went.

“Go home and get some rest,” he said, not looking at her. “Return to your studies tomorrow, if you must.”

And then he was gone, not even bothering to shut the door behind him. Frankie watched him go, and she knew then with certainty that it wouldn’t be Murphy who she was dreaming about tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> don’t worry about frankie y’all—in my game, she ultimately learns to start working through her fear of the supernatural. dealing with the maa’alused successfully really helps her feel like she’s capable of taking on the challenges of the supernatural world, though that uneasiness still lingers. in the bloodlust universe, though..... well, a lot of the progress she makes is shattered in that fic, for understandable reasons.
> 
> as always, follow me on tumblr @blightning! sometimes i post art of frankie and adam there :)


End file.
